A tufting gun is a handheld tufting machine used to make rugs. It’s much faster than manual methods like latch hook or punch needle, but a step down from industrial tufting machines for carpet.
Tufting guns have a lot of advantages over other rug making or weaving techniques. As mentioned above, they’re very fast. A medium-sized rug can be knocked out in a few hours.
They’re also relatively affordable. A few hundreds dollars will get you a solid machine, and the only supplies you need are yarn, backing material, and creativity.
Rug tufting has been around for decades, but it’s come back into style recently thanks to social media platforms like TikTok. And I’m all for it!
How does it work?
Tufting guns work very much like a sewing machine. It has a “foot” that rests against the cloth or backing material, then a large needle pushes yarn through the material, leaving some on the other side.
Depending on the type of tufting gun you have (or the settings), it will either leave a loop (loop pile) or a strand (cut pile) on the other side. More on that in the section below.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that you can run more than one thread of yarn through the tufting gun at a time. Use creative combinations to make interesting patterns and colors, or just save time by pushing through more threads at once!
Loop pile vs cut pile tufting guns
The biggest decision you need to make before buying a tufting gun is whether or not you want a loop pile or cut pile model. There are some models that can do both (learn more about that below), but they tend to be more expensive and fairly difficult to adjust back and forth.
For beginners though, you should absolutely stick to a simple model.
So how do you know which one to choose? Well, there isn’t really a right answer here.
Both loop pile and cut pile tufting guns are great fun, and both can be used to create incredible pieces. Which one you choose will largely be personal preference.
For me personally, I’d probably lean toward cut pile because I like the feel of the finished rug — but again, that’s just personal preference.
Low pile vs high pile tufting guns
Another important aspect of tufting guns is pile height, or how tall the yarn is on a finished rug. The easiest way to explain this is to think about a thick, 70s style shag rug. That’s high pile, with most normal rugs falling into the low pile category.
It’s also worth noting that high or low pile applies to both cut and loop machines. However, loop pile is typically shorter because the thread is pulled back through.
As for which one to get, I’d highly recommend going with a low pile machine. First of all, they’re much cheaper, running roughly a third the cost of high pile tufting guns. Furthermore, they’re usually easier to set up and use.
Post time: 07-29-2022